[p.465] copious spring enclosed by a massive building, from whence the
water is drawn up by wheels turned by oxen, and emptied into a large
stone tank on the outside of the building. The men who take care of the
wheels and the oxen remain constantly shut up in the building for fear
of the Bedouins. The water is brackish, but it serves for drinking, and
the Arabs and Egyptian peasants travelling between Cairo and Suez, who
do not choose to pay a higher price for the sweet water of the latter
place, are in the habit of filling their water skins here, as do the
people of Suez for their cooking provision. From an inscription on the
building, it appears that it was erected in the year of the Hedjra 1018.
We reached Suez about sunset, at the end of eleven hours and a half. I
alighted with the Bedouins upon an open place between the western wall
of the town, and its houses.
April 24th. In the time of Niebuhr Suez was not enclosed; there is now a
wall on the west and south-west, which is rapidly falling to decay. The
town is in a ruinous state; and neither merchants nor artisans live in
it. Its population consists only of about a dozen agents, who receive
goods from the ports of the Red sea, and forward them to their
correspondents at Cairo, together with some shop-keepers who deal
chiefly in provisions. The Pasha keeps a garrison here of about fifty
horsemen, with an officer who commands the town, the neighbouring Arabs,
and the shipping in the harbour. As Suez is one of the few harbours in
the Red sea where ships can be repaired, some vessels are constantly
seen at the wharf; the repairs are carried on by Greek shipwrights and
smiths, in the service of the Pasha, who are let out to the shipowners
by the commanding officer. Suez has of late become a harbour of
secondary importance, the supplies of provisions, &c. for the Hedjaz
being collected principally at Cosseir, and shipped from thence to Yembo
and Djidda: but the trade in coffee and
[p.466] India goods still passes this way to Cairo. I saw numerous bales
of spices and coffee lying near the shore, and a large heap of iron,
together with packages of small wares, antimony, and Egyptian goods for
exportation to Djidda, and ultimately to Yemen and India. The merchants
complained of the want of camels to transport their goods to Cairo. The
Pasha, who owns a considerable part of the imports of coffee, has fixed
the carriage across the desert at a low price, and none of the agents
venture to offer more to the camel drivers; the consequence of which is,
that few are encouraged to come to Suez beyond the number required for
the Pashas merchandize. A caravan consisting of five or six hundred
camels leaves Suez for Cairo on the 10th of each lunar month,
accompanied by guards and two field-pieces; while smaller ones, composed
of twenty or thirty beasts, depart almost every four or five days; but
to these the merchants are shy of trusting their goods, because they can
never depend on the safety of the road; accidents however seldom happen
at present, so formidable is the name of Mohammed Ali.
Before the power of this Pasha was established in Egypt, and during the
whole period of the Mamelouk government, the Bedouins might be called
complete masters of Suez. Every inhabitant was obliged t[o] have his
protector, Ghafyr [Arabic], among the Bedouins of Mount Sinai, to whom
he made annual presents of money, corn, and clothes, and who ensured to
him the safe passage of his goods and person through the desert, and the
recovery of whatever was plundered by the others. At that time the rate
of freight was fixed by the Bedouins, and camels were in plenty; but,
whenever the governors of Cairo quarrelled with the Bedouins, or ill-
treated any of them at Cairo, the road was immediately interrupted, and
the Bedouins placed guards over the well of Naba [Arabic], two hours
distant from Suez, in the hills on the eastern side of the gulf, to
prevent the people of the town from drawing from thence their
[p.467] daily supply of sweet water. The difference was always settled
by presents to the Bedouins, who, however, as may readily be conceived,
often abused their power; and it not unfrequently happened that, even in
time of peace, a Bedouin girl would be found, in the morning, sitting on
the well, who refused permission to the water carriers of Suez to draw
water unless they paid her with a new shirt, which they were obliged to
do; for to strike her, or even to remove her by force, would have
brought on a war with her tribe. The authority of the Bedouins is now at
an end, though their Sheikhs receive from the Turkish governors of Suez
a yearly tribute, under the name of presents, in clothes and money; the
Pasha himself has become the Ghafyr of the people of Suez, and exacts
from every camel load that passes through the gates from two to four
dollars, for which he engages to ensure the passage through the desert;
when the caravan however was plundered in 1815, he never returned the
value of the goods to the owners.
The Arabs Terabein are the conductors of the caravans to Ghaza, and
Khalyl (Hebron), the latter of which is eight days distant. At this time
the freight per camels load was eighteen Patacks, or four dollars and a
half. These caravans bring the manufactures of Damascus, soap, glass-
ware, tobacco, and dried fruits, which are shipped at Suez for the
Hedjaz and Yemen.
The eastern part of the town of Suez is completely in ruins, but near
the shore are some well built Khans, and in the inhabited part of the
town are several good private houses. The aspect of Suez is that of an
Arabian, and not an Egyptian town, and even in the barren waste, which
surrounds it, it resembles Yembo and Djidda; the same motley crowds are
met with in the streets, and the greater part of the shop-keepers are
from Arabia or Syria. The air is bad, occasioned by the saline nature of
the earth, and the extensive low grounds on the north and north-east
sides, which are filled
[p.468] with stagnant waters by the tides. The inhabitants endeavour to
counteract the influence of this bad atmosphere by drinking brandy
freely; the mortality is not diminished by such a remedy, and fevers of
a malignant kind prevail during the spring and summer.
The water of the well of Naba, though called sweet, has a very
indifferent taste, and becomes putrid in a few days if kept in skins.
The government has made a sort of monopoly of it; but its distribution
is very irregular, and affrays often happen at the well, particularly
when ships are on the point of sailing. In general, however, they touch
at Tor, for a supply; those lying in the harbour might fill their casks
at the well of Abou Szoueyra [Arabic], about seven hours to the south of
Ayoun Mousa, and about half an hour from the sea shore, where the water
is good; but Arabs will seldom give themselves so much trouble for
water, and will rather drink what is at hand, though bad, than go to a
distance for good.
Ships, after delivering their cargoes at Suez, frequently proceed to
Cosseir, to take in corn for the Hedjaz. They first touch at Tor for
water, and then stand over to the western coast, anchoring in the creeks
every evening till they reach their destination. The coast they sail
along is barren, and without water, and no Arabs are seen. At one or two
days sail from Suez is an ancient Coptic convent, now abandoned, called
Deir Zafaran or Deir El Araba [Arabic]; it stands on the declivity of
the mountain, at about one hour from the sea. Some wild date-trees grow
there. At the foot of the mountain are several wells three or four feet
deep, upon the surface of whose waters naphtha or petroleum is sometimes
found in the month of November, which is skimmed off by the hand; it is
of a deep brownish black colour, and of the same fluidity as turpentine,
which it resembles in smell. This substance, which is known
[p.469] under the name of Zeit el Djebel [Arabic], mountain oil, is
collected principally by the Christians of Tor, and by the Arabs Heteim,
of the eastern shore of the Red sea; it is greatly esteemed in Egypt as
a cure for sores and rheumatism, and is sold at Suez and Tor, at from
one to two dollars per pound.
Niebuhr, travelling in 1762, says that Suez derives its provisions in
great part from Mount Sinai and Ghaza: this is not the case now. From
Mount Sinai it obtains nothing but charcoal, and a few fruits and dates
in the autumn; dried fruits of the growth of Damascus are the only
import from Ghaza. The town is supplied with provisions from Cairo;
vegetables are found only at the time of the arrival of the caravan.
Every article is of the worst quality, and twenty-five per cent. dearer
than at Cairo. Syrian, Turkish, and Moggrebyn pilgrims are constantly
seen here, waiting for the departure of ships to the Hedjaz. I found
three vessels in the harbour, and it may be calculated that one sails to
the southward every fortnight. No Europeans are settled here; but an
English agent is expected next year, to meet the ships from Bombay,
according to a treaty made with the Pasha, by several English houses,
who wished to open a direct communication between India and Egypt.[In
May, 1817, a small fleet arrived at Suez direct from Bombay, which was
composed of English ships, and of others belonging to Mohammed Ali
Pasha: among the articles imported were two elephants destined by the
Pasha as presents to the Porte. This has been the first attempt within
the last forty years to open a direct trade between India and Egypt, and
will be as profitable to the Pasha as it must be ruinous to his
subjects. The cargoes of these ships and the coffee which he imports
from Yemen, are distributed by him among the merchants of Cairo, in
proportion to their supposed capital in trade, and they are obliged to
take the articles off his hands at the highest prices which they bear in
the Bazar. If this trade is encreased by the Pasha, it will entirely
prevent the merchants from importing goods on their own account from
Djidda, the quantity they are thus obliged to take from the Pasha being
fully sufficient for the consumption of Egypt.]